Found a little 3/4 size Jay Jr acoustic in next-to-new condition in a pawn shop yesterday for only $40, so of course I had to buy it.

I have no idea how to play, but I intend on learning. Bought myself a chord sheet so I can figure out what's what, and I'm going to try working from there.





It's pink.

That sounds cool,
were you planning on buying it or was it on impulse?

get some lessons, it's fun

wildgoldenhoney said:

Been meaning get into music in some way for a very long time, actually. I'm an avid listener and lover of music, and everyone is always surprised that I don't play anything.

I'd spent a long time trying to narrow down exactly what instument to try picking up -I had no clear direction, but the wish that I could make some of that wonderful noise I'd been listening to. Practicality won out in the end -guitars are portable, and it's easy to find someone to help me learn and eventually, people to play with.

ZombieKitten said:

I might. I find some decent looking instructional videos on youtube, and I know quite a few people who play, so I may end up not having to spend any money.

meow85 said:

can you sing in tune? It sure will help if you're musical

ZombieKitten said:

I've been told my voice is passably good. I'll never be an Broadway star, but I wouldn't get laughed out of the bar doing karaoke either. I can definitely sing on key, so there's that.

meow85 said:

then you will probably pick it up pretty quickly

ZombieKitten said:

Here's hopin'.

meow85 said:

Awesome! You're going to love it!

If you have the dough, buy a music book for your favorite album. It'll have the chord diagrams over each measure. You can learn to play your favorite songs that way.

Also, if you can play with your friends that you mentioned, do it! That's the BEST way to learn quickly.

Finally, almost everyone forgets to tell new players this, but the rhythm of the guitar comes from the strumming hand. Think about making your strumming hand percussive (as in, keeping a beat) and you will sound good MUCH faster.

Good luck!

Women who play instruments. Very sexy.

It's really hard at the very beginning (like just about everything!) but pretty quickly it gets easy to play a million songs.

Guitar is physically hard to play, but mentally easy--the opposite of piano

...learn the open chords A D E C G and make music forever...

RodeoSchro said:

Thanks.

I'll work on actual music once I get the chords and fingerwork down better. Some of them are kind of a bitch with my itty bitty hands. Good thing I didn't go for a standard size.

NDRU said:

Yeah, I've noticed. Having tinky hands isn't helping much.


But, holding the instrument feels very "natural" somehow. I'm taking that as a good sign.

NDRU said:

I'm a quitter. I fucking hate myself for it.

Lammastide said:

Mysterioso said:

I fucking hate you for it, too!!

NDRU said:

Thanks. I feel better, now. Man, you don't know how fucking infuriating it was to sit there and try to play the guitar. I started to wonder whether or not I was supposed to play until my fingers bleed. And don't EVEN get me started on Piano. I feel like I keep slipping off the fucking keys!

Mysterioso said:

yeah it kind of hurts, but you have to do it every day, even if it's for only 10 minutes

NDRU said:

I tried to keep consistent. I think if I REALLY gave it my all, I could be an excellent musician. But I was too worried with becoming a creative maestro before trying to master songs. I never fucked with musical theory all that much. Not my forte. I have chord and scale sheets up the ass, but I don't think I'd ever apply any of that information to my playing sessions (That is, if I were to ever get back into playing. I really wish I would have mastered it all at a really young age. I just don't feel up to it now that I'm old as hell.).

Right now, the guitar is bringing me nothing but frustration. Stay with chords, stay away from soloing like your idols.

Mysterioso said:

you can just play without learning any theory, all by feel & creativity. But I think that's a really slow way to learn and it'll hurt when you need to communicate with other musicians. Someone says "this song is in G" and you say "WTF is G?"

let's see it!

thekidsgirl said:

I would, but sadly I have neither a webcam nor a digital camera.

meow85 said:

That's a good choice then.
I got my nephews violins because of the portability too.

Have a blast!

wildgoldenhoney said:

I'd actually considered violin, but figured my roommate and upstairs-living landlord would not appreciate the sound of me learning too much.